Serving In Mission

As my Ph.D. studies drew to a close, I began to explore teaching possibilities around the world. I entered into discussions with a number of different sending agencies. The first agencies I spoke to didn’t have any openings or didn’t share my theological convictions. By the end of 2008 I was beginning to feel a little frustrated. Finally, after exhausting the most obvious possibilities, I tried searching the internet and found Serving in Mission (SIM). For the first time I encountered a group that shared my convictions about theological education:

SIM believes that developing the minds of local Christians will help the church to navigate issues that arise from its unique cultural context. If you have a passion to train local believers and develop indigenous Christian scholarship, then we can place you in a Bible school, seminary, or theological education by extension programs.

This seemed to be exactly what I was looking for! I started to fill out the online questionnaire but ran out of time that night, so I saved it without submitting and planned to finish it up the next day. Before I had a chance to get back to it or even submit it I received an e-mail from Jim Longworth, the Regional Director for SIM in Atlantic Canada. “I was delighted to receive your Preliminary Information Form yesterday and pleased to note your desire to be involved in Theological Education focusing on teaching New Testament.”

That was May 20, 2009. Over the next few months Jim worked hard looking for opportunities for me. As a result of Jim’s efforts we received invitations from the Theological College of Central Africa in Ndola, Zambia in October, and from the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in December. At that point we began the application process with SIM – so many forms! On April 20, 2010 we were accepted as SIM associates.